Rolling machine



April 15, 1941. J T; LEECH 2,238,121

ROLLING MACHINE Filed Oct. 4- 1958 s Sheets-Sheget i INVENTOR Jacob TLeech April 15, 1941. J LEECH 2,238,121

ROLLING MACHINE Filed Oct. 4, 1938. 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Jacob 7.L eech M,M 6 I'M Patented Apr. 15, 1941 UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE ROLLING MACHINE Jacob T. Leech, Beaver, Pa., assignor to Taylor- 2 Wilson Manufacturing Company,

McKees Rocks, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application Ojctober 4, 1938, Serial No. 233,211

' SGIaims.

The presentl invention relates to rolling ma chines for reducing, straightening and polishing bars; rods, tube's and the likeand is particularly applicable to-rross rolling machines for these purposes. Thefinvention ."r'elates particularly to the supporting and driving mechanism for the rolls of such machines and provides supporting Consequently, heretofore it has been necessary to either sacrifice finish for speed or vice versa.

and driving mechanism which permits greater flexibility in the use of the machine and enables to the horizontal. In some such machines only a single pair oi rolls are (utilized-while in others several pairs'areemployed, The present invention is applicable to machines employing one or more pairs of rolls. In both the machines employing a single pair of cross rolls and in machines employiolmore than one pair, considerable difilcultyhasheretofore been encountered. with the driving mechanism. The usual type of drivev for such machines is through wobbler or universal connections. This type of drive is undesirable for machines of such character in view of the fact that it limits the machine to relatively slow speeds. This of course results in low production and high cost of manufacture. The use of the ordinary Wobbler drive limits machines of this character to-slow speeds in view of the fact that if attempts were made to speed up themachines the drive would result in vibrationsentirely too great for ordinary operations. In addition by. driving the machines through Wobbler connections at such rates of speed as would result-in vibrations the maintenance cost would be materially increased.

Accordingly the principal purpose of the prese' t invention is to provide a machine of this character having driving mechanism for driving the .rolls which will permit them to be driven at relatively high speeds so as to thereby increase the productive capacity of the machine and reaxes and the' horizontal, the slower thespeed at which thewiork-piece traverse the roll pass.

By the present invention I provide a machine which will permit the positioning of the roll axes at a relatively small angle to the horizontal without in any way sacrificing speed, for the rotative speed of the rolls may be increased proportionately as the roll angle is decreased without any detrimental vibrational effects. In fact, in the machine which I provide by the present invention, speeds of any desired magnitude may be employed, therange of speeds being limited only by the maximum of the range of speed at which the drive motor is capable of performing and the maximum roll angle at which a satisfactory product may result.

As is well known in this art, it is desirable to provide supporting mechanism for the cross rolls which is of such character as to permit adjustment of the rolls in each pass toward and away from each other and to permit angular adjustment of the rolls. Adjustments of this character are necessary in order to p'ermit the use of the machine for the straightening and polishing of material of various different sizes. The necessity for adjustability of this character has rendered the problem of providing suitable driving mechanism a very diflicult one. Prior to the making of the present invention so far as I am aware no satisfactory solution to this problem has been brought about, all of the prior art machines having driving mechanism of such character as to render them relatively slow. However, by the present invention I provide a machine of this character having the rolls mounted in such a way as to permit the necessary adjustment thereof and having a driving mechanism which will permit adjustment over a very wide range and also drive the rolls at relatively high speeds in any adjusted position.

Another feature of the present invention is that the rolls may be very readily changed. They may be removed from the machine either by removing the yoke carrying the roll or by removing the yoke and the trunnion supporting it as a unit.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown for purposes of illustration only a preferred embodiment of my invention. In the drawings- Figure 1 is an end elevation of the machine which I provide;

Figure 2 is a transverse section of the machine shown in Figure 1, some of the parts being shown in elevation;

Figure 3 is a section taken along the line III-III of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a partial longitudinal section through the machine shown in Figures 1 to 3.

As shown in the drawings, the machine which 5 I provide embodies a substantially cylindrical cross roll 2 and a cooperating cross roll 3 which has a concave working face. The axes of these rolls are inclined to the horizontal in opposite directions in the usual manner. By the use of e a pair of cross rolls, one of which is substantially cylindrical and the other of which is provided with a concave working face, satisfactory straightening and polishing can be effected by the use of a single pair. The necessary bending of the material in order to effect straightening is effected by the character of the pass formed by this combination of rolls. If it is desired to obtain a higher finish than is obtainable with the use of one cylindrical cross roll and one concave cross roll, the pass may be formed of one roll having a convex working face and another roll having a concave working face.

The material is entered in the machine and. guided to the pass formed by the cross rolls by 25 means of an entry guide 4 carried by the main frame 5. A similar guide 6 is carried by the main frame 5 and guides the material in the proper path after it has passed between the rolls. A guide in is also provided beneath the roll pass for supporting the material during the rolling operation. The guide in is a linear or rail guide and extends upwardly to a point between the rolls and supports the material, preventing the cylindrical roll from forcing the material from between the rolls.

Each cross roll is supported in bearings I carried by a yoke 8, each cross roll being provided with a shaft 9 cooperating with the bearings in the yoke. Each yoke 8 is mounted on 'and keyed to a trunnion I0 slidably and rotatably mounted in a bearing section II formed in the main frame 5. Each yoke is removably held in position on its trunnion by means of screws or threaded bolts 8'. The forward end of each yoke is adapted to rest upon a saddle l0 which serves to dampen vibrations which may be set up during operation of the machine.

In order to provide adjustment of the rolls toward and away from each other to vary the 50 size of the pass formed thereby, each trunnion is provided with an axial opening l2. Each opening I! is provided with a sleeve l3 which is internally threaded for cooperation with the threaded stud ll. The sleeve [3 is rigidly secured in the opening l2 so that upon rotation of the stud H the sleeve l3 and the trunnion III will move axially. Rotation of the stud H is effected by the shaft I5 which extends outwardly through an opening 16 in the frame, the inner end of the shaft l5 being secured to the stud 'll and-the outer end thereof being formed to receive a wrench oroperating lever. The'-- stud i4 is held in fixed positionrelative to the frame and it and the movable .trunnioifheld in 6.; any adjusted position by meansof thnutll rj the collars l9 and 20 and the bushingJL The trunnion is further held in adjusted position and particularly against rotationby a cap 50 securely held in position over the trunnion by appropriate bolts threaded in the frame.

The trunnion 10 carries an indicating rod 22 which projects through an openin 23 in the frame above the lateral adjusting mechanism just described. This indicating arm cooperates with a pointer 24 which is mounted on a. outer surface of the main frame. By this arrangement the position of the trunnion and the roll carried thereby is definitely indicated, appropriate indicia being provided on the sleeve 25 carried by the indicating rod 22..

Each trunnion carries a rack 26 adjacent the outer end thereof. This rack meshes with a pinion 21 carried by a stub shaft II which extends exteriorly of the frame. Rotation of this shaft by a wrench, a crank, or any other suitable operating mechanism effects a rotation of the trunnion about its axis in its bearing, thereby providing for angular adjustment of the roll carried thereby.

The drive for the rolls is effected by a motor 29 mounted on the base of the main frame. The motor shaft 30 carries a sprocket wheel it and the drive is transmitted from this sprocket wheel 3i through a chain 32 to a sprocket wheel 33 carried by the main drive shaft 34. .The drive shaft 34 is suitably supported in roller bear,- ings 31 carried by the main frame. The main drive shaft carries pinions 38 and I! which are keyed thereto. The pinion ll, through appropriate gearing, drives the roll 2, and the pinion 39, through identical gearing, drives the roll 3. As these drives are identical only one will be described. The pinion 39 meshes with and drives the large pinion gear ll which is rotatably supported on the trunnion ll. Ball bearinz supports I are provided between the trunnion it and the gear 40 to provide an anti-friction mounting therefor. The gear ll has secured to one face thereof an annular ring or bevel gear 42 which rotates with the gear I. This bevel gear 42 meshes with the bevel gear 43 keyed to the shaft 9 of the roll 3. It will be apparent that rotation of the shaft 34 drives the pinions 38 and 39 and that these gears drive the large gears supported on the trunnions and that these gears, in turn, drive the rolls through the bevel gears 42 and "and that the drive is effected in any adjusted position of the rolls.

' It will be apparent from the description given above that, the drive mechanism for driving the rolls is of such character as to permit adjustment of the rolls toward and away from each other and to also permit rotation of the trunnions so as to effect angular adjustment of the roll. These adjustments canbe effected without in any way interfering with the driving mechanism. It will also be apparent that the driving mechanism described above is of such character that the rolls can be driven at relatively high speed, thereby increasing the productive capacity of the machine.

It will be apparent from the description given above that the machine which I provide is of such character that the rolls may be readily removed therefrom. The entire trunnion which carries a yoke and its roll can readily be removed or the trunnion may be allowed to remain'in the mill and only the yoke and the roll carried thereby removed. This is a desirable feature as it is frequently necessary or desirabl'e'to use-.millspf this character for both rough work and highly finished work, in which event it is necessary to have-,difl'erent rolls for the different kinds--.of work to be performed. The feature of removing the ion and its bearing yoke rather than the roll alone or the roll yoke and trunnion is additionally desirable, firstly, because either of these two latter methods involves a loss of time and, therefore, of produc- 2,238,121 tion; and secondly, because removing the roll alone makes it probable that the bearings or the roll necks will become fouled with dirt and grit, which constitutes a serious menace to proper operations; and thirdly, if the roll necks are mounted in roller or ball bearings, which are essential in heavy duty bearings, every safeguard against the entry of any foreign matter into the bearings must be adopted. The best safeguard against contamination of the bearings is to avoid exposure thereof to abrasive particles which are prevalent in the atmosphere in steel works where machines of the character in question are normally employed.

While I have shown and described a pref rred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that my invention may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a cross rolling machine of the character I described, the combination of a frame, a pair of trunnions rotatably mounted in the frame, each trunnion exte 1g forwardly from its mounting toward the other and forming cantilever mountings, a yoke removably mounted on and carried by the forward end of each trunnion, a double-necked cross roll carried by each yoke, means for rotating the trunnions about their axes for adjusting the angular relationship of the rolls, means for adjusting at least one of the trunnions toward and away from the other, and means rotatably mounted on said trunnions for driving the rolls, said yokes and the rolls carried thereby being removable from the machine without removing the trunnions, and a vibration dampening saddle cooperating with the forward ends of said trunnions.

2. In a cross rolling machine of the character described, the combination of a frame, trunnion bearings in the frame, trunnions mounted in said bearings and extending forwardly from said bearings toward each other and forming canti-, lever mountings, a yoke reniovably carried by the forward end of each trunnion, a doublenecked cross roll carried by each yoke, means for adjusting vthe trunnions toward and away from each other, and means rotatably mounted on said trunnions for driving the rolls.

3. In a cross rolling machine of the character described, the combination of a frame, a pair of trunnions rotatably mounted in and cantilevered forwardly of the frame, each having its forward end extending toward that of the other, a removable yoke carried by the forward end of each trunnion, a double-necked .roll carried by each yoke, means for rotating each trunnion about its axis for adjusting the angular relatlonship of the rolls, means for individually adjusting each of said trunnions and the yoke and roll carried thereby toward and away from the other of said trunnions, and roll driving means mounted on and rotatable relative to each of said trunnions.

4. In a cross rolling machine of the characte described, the combination of a frame, a pair of trunnions rotatably mounted in and cantilevered forwardly of the frame, each having its forward end extending toward'that of the other, a removable yoke carried by the forward end of each trunnion, a double-necked roll carried by each yoke, means for rotating each trunnion about its axis for adjusting the angular, relationship of the rolls, means for adjusting at least one of said trunnions and the yoke and roll carforwardly of the 1 frame, each having its forward end extending toward, that of the other,

a removable yoke carried-by the forwardend of each trunnion, a double-necked roll carried by each yoke, each of said rolls having a diameter less than the length of the face thereof, means for rotating each trunnion about its axis for adjustlng the angular relationship of the rolls, means for adjusting at least one of said trunnions and the yoke and roll carried thereby toward and away from the other of said trunnions, and roll driving means mounted on and rotatable relative to each of said trunnions.

' 6. In a cross rolling machine of the character described, the combination of a frame, a pair of trunnions rotatably mounted in and cantilevered forwardly of the frame, each trunnion having its forward end extending toward that of the other and being of substantially uniform diameter throughout its length, a removable yoke carried by the forward end of each trunnion, a double-necked roll carried by each yoke, means for rotating each trunnion about its axis for adjusting the angular relationship of the rolls, means for adjusting at least one of said trunnions and the yoke and roll carried thereby toward and away from the other of said trunnions, and roll driving means mounted on and rotatable relative to each of said trunnions.

7. In a cross rolling-machine of the character described, the combination ofa frame, a pair of trunnions rotatably mounted in and cantilevered forwardly of the frame, each trunnion having its forward end extending toward that of the other, a removable yoke carried by the forward end of each trunnion, a double-necked roll carried by each yoke, the trunnion having a diameter greater than that of the roll carried by the yoke, means for rotating each trunnion about its axis for adjusting the angular relationship of the rolls, means for adjusting each of said trunnions and the yoke and roll carried thereby toward and away from the other of said trunnions, and roll driving ,means mounted on and rotatable relative to each of said trunnions.

8. In a cross rolling machine of the character described, the combination of a frame, a pair of trunnions rotatably mounted in and cantilevered forwardly of the frame, a removable yoke a carried by the forward end of each trunnion, a double-necked roll carried by each yoke, each of said trunnions toward and away from each other, and roll driving means mounted on and rotatable relative to each of said. trunnions.

JACOB '1'. mon.; 

